The Jaffrey-Rindge MLK Day celebrations began with the ringing of the bells at both the Cathedral of the Pines and the United Church of Jaffrey at 2 p.m. Monday. 

At the Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, voting rights and constitutional law expert Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a professor at Harvard Law School, presented a keynote address on voting trends in the 21st century. He focused on the areas of voting patterns, minority representation and redistricting, highlighting research results from the 1980s to the 2024 elections.  

Stephanopoulos pointed out that education is now the largest cleavage in voting patterns, exceeding race, wealth, and geography. Voters with more education tend to vote Democratic, while voters with up to high school diplomas favor Republicans.

Stephanopoulos revealed trends that showed changing historical patterns and challenged popular beliefs. For example, between the 2012 and 2020 elections, there was a trend toward racial depolarization, with African American and Hispanic voters showing 6 to 8% decreased support of Democratic candidates and white voters 2% increased support of Democratic candidates. Between 2016 and 2020, urban areas became less Democratic by 2 to 5%, while suburban became more Democratic by 3 to 5% and rural areas became more Republican by 6 to 8%. Older voters are moving more Democratic and younger more Republican.

Stephanopoulos summarized this voting research by saying that because of voting pattern changes with regards to race, economics and education, there is less incentive to restrict voting and instead more willingness to consider voting policies that are nonpartisan. With shifts in minority representation voting patterns, there is agreement that this less racially polarized voting is desirable. Regarding redistricting, if partisanship based on geography does not cleave as strongly as it has in the past, then there is more incentive to reform redistricting. 

More than 65 people attended the event, and engaged with Stephanopoulos with questions and discussion after the lecture. 

Stephanie Cox Suárez of Rindge is a Jaffrey-Rindge MLK Committee member.